(read all the posts on the remote Girl Scout Troop series here)
Monday we had our 15th session of our Junior Troop, our 4th since we’ve been “paused” here in NYC held completely online, with all participants and leaders at home. I’ve been documenting the experience here on my old blog. I’ll skip the opening and closing – you can read about those in my previous post – and focus on the main section of the session.
But I can’t resist a few photos:
Last week we started working on our Bronze Award – step 1. Go on a Girl Scout Junior journey & step 2. Build your Girl Scout Junior team. This week we turned to step 3 – Explore your community.
Ask them which ones we have completed so far and how (#1 – the Engineer Journey; #2 – sharing our special skills last week). Remind that step 3 is NOT coming up with the solution; that’s Step 4. Step 3 is where we look at the need.
Show pages 5 of the girl-facing Bronze Award PDF, and walk through the examples of observation and project ideas. Select a girl to read first row and a second to read the second.
Then explain that to explore our community, we’re going to do the same thing but in a padlet. But don’t give them the link yet – just share how it works – three ways to explore the community, and two boxes – one for each type of observation and one collection of ideas associated with that observation.
- First, the research: What do you see and hear around you? Here are ideas for what to look out for. (yellow box)
- Then the ideas: Maybe We Could… Possible project ideas to make a difference. (green box)
In the padlet there are three groups. Explore the three and see if they have other ideas about how they can observe their community, right now, from home, to see see and hear what’s going on around them? The three on the padlet are:
- Look outside window
- Text friends
- Queens Chronicle: https://www.qchron.com/
Once they understand use the Zoom Breakout room feature paste padlet link in the chat then send them into their own groups. Give them 20 minutes to do research, and come up with ideas. Time them. Watch the padlet for progress. If no progress drop in on their breakout rooms. Ask them if they need more time. Gather and process what they observed and their ideas.
So yeah. That was the plan. A bit complicated to set up – but it worked! They had a shared collaborative space, easy to use, on Padlet (which I could see as well), and separate spaces they could meet (using Zoom breakout rooms). And for the first time we started working remotely I could set up the girls, sit back… and do nothing.
The girls were off in their breakout rooms while I stayed behind in the main rooms and, yes, I checked on them every once in awhile, visiting their rooms, giving them some needed guidance based on what I saw in the padlet (directions that needed to be more clear, words of encouragement, time checks), but, for much of the time, I was just there, with my co-leader, doing nothing, watching the girls work. That was amazing, that familiar feeling I hadn’t felt in weeks, when we used to meet in person, when the girls would be working hard and wouldn’t need us and we could just watch and marvel at their power.
We then spoke about whom from our community we could invite to meet with us via Zoom. The girls liked the idea and one then said her mom knew a police officer (and now, a few days later, it’s all set).
Before we finished this section we wanted to model for the girls what others have done. We showed the video of the Governor of Indiana showing this great video made by a troop in his state.
And why not – you should see the video as well. Here is is.
And we ended as we now always do – the Friendship song and a song from Spotify to dance to.
